Excerpt from The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Hollis

Hollis always grinned when this happened. He couldn't help it.

The aftermath wasn't his favorite, for obvious reasons. But this? The way James's knuckles felt as they slammed into his gut?

It made him clench his teeth.

Hollis was good at dodging—adrenaline always slowed down time, so he had the leisure of watching punches slice through the air. Hollis had taken enough hits in his life that he'd gotten good at making them miss. It wasn't like James was a slouch at this though; he was a haymaker for sure.

James's face twisted with rage, eyes darkening. The corners of Hollis's mouth ticked up.

Most of the time, when people fought Hollis, they were yelling at him too. But James was silent as he slammed his fist, sharp and violent, under Hollis's chin, cutting Hollis's smirk off. His head was still tilted, face warming in the midday sun, when James backhanded Hollis hard enough that his shoulder met pavement.

It felt real good to lie there for a minute.

James didn't even give him a second to breathe. He scraped Hollis off the ground, pinned him to the brick wall. Slotted close, thigh to chest, he shoved his broad hand across Hollis's throat. James pulled his arm back, biceps bunching with muscle to continue punching Hollis in the head, and Hollis realized at once that he couldn't take it.

He flinched, closed his eyes. Waited for his vision to explode in red and yellow, but the hit never came. When he got the courage to look, James was staring back at him hard.

Then James let him go. Watched Hollis's knees buckle without his support, saw the heels of his boots skid in the gravel, pathetic. But he didn't mock Hollis, or tease.

"Leave me alone," James said instead. Pulling his backpack onto his shoulders. "You don't always have to be such a dick."

Boy

Hollis Brown looked up.

Annie was staring at him, blocking out the sun.

He scrubbed the back of his hand across his face, smearing the blood beneath his nose.

Annie's frown got deeper.

"I didn't do anything."

She rolled her eyes. "You can't possibly expect me to believe that."

"Oh come on! There's nothing I could say that would hurt more than James Miller's right hook. He almost broke my fucking jaw."

Annie opened her backpack and pulled out her roll of Hello Kitty Band-Aids. She wiped his cuts roughly, spraying them with antiseptic, then she pressed a kiss to the scrape across Hollis's knuckles.

"Maybe if you bitched at him less, your jaw wouldn't be almost broken," she snapped, merciless. "Yulia isn't going to be happy."

Hollis let himself fall gently back until he was flat on the pavement again.

The thing about being friends with only girls was that they held him accountable for his actions. He got scolded and berated and pushed to be better. But he also got Band-Aids. Even kisses sometimes, if he played his cards right.

Annie sprayed antiseptic all over his face, then chucked the bottle at him hard enough to hurt.

Annie

Annie and Hollis lived next door to each other and walked to school together every day.

It was the only reason someone like Annie had become his friend in the first place.

Hollis was fine, but Annie was cool. She cut her hair herself and made her own clothes and jewelry. She had big brown eyes, wide sharp shoulders, and cheeks that flushed pink in any season.

She was the school photographer, so Annie knew everyone. She dated guys from student council, guys on sports teams, guys who did mathletes, guys who smoked weed and thought they were cool, no social group seemed off-limits.

She was the kind of girl who could sit down at any lunch table and no one would look at her sideways.

Annie Watanabe could do it all.

But instead, she was there. Right beside Hollis, always.

Scream

Yulia Egunyemi leaned against her Dodge Challenger and waited for Annie and Hollis to stumble across the parking lot. Hollis wasn't heavy, but Annie was small, and he had at least a foot on her. His long arm dangled over her shoulder, welts turning vivid and red.

Excerpted from The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum. Copyright © 2025 by K. Ancrum. Excerpted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.